From violent campus protests to the shooting of a congressman, the violent, radical left is rising. But this should not surprise us at all. The handwriting has been on the wall for years.

What else do you expect when those who believe a child should have a mother and a father are likened to the KKK, Nazis, the Taliban and ISIS? What else do you expect when Christian conservatives have been branded dangerous enemies?

Already in May, 2005, John McCandlish Phillips, formerly a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, pointed out how newspapers like the Washington Post and the Times told their readers that evangelicals and traditional Catholics were engaging in a jihad against America.

Markos Moulitsas, founder of the radically left-leaning Dailykos.com, wrote a whole book in 2010 in which he accused conservative Christians of being the American Taliban, which in turn reflected the sentiments of some Californians who opposed the Proposition 8, pro-marriage bill in 2008 and who carried signs reading: “Prop 8 = American Taliban” and “52 percent = Nazi,” which referred to the 52-48 percent vote in favor of Prop 8, and “Don’t Silence the Christians, Feed Them 2 the Lions.”

People don’t just hate you. They see you as downright dangerous, and that in itself is dangerous.

Really now, do you think people who compare you to ISIS and the Nazis do not look at you as a real threat? Do you think they can hold up signs calling for you to be thrown to the lions without holding some genuine animosity towards you? And do you think that people who express themselves in such sick and ugly terms would be upset if someone actually did you harm?

To quote again from my previous article, which was published September, 2015, and drew on developments I had been tracking since 2004:

As Maggie Gallagher pointed out earlier this year, those who express extreme hatred towards conservative Christians in America “tend to hold relatively high levels of social power,” citing a recent book on “Christianophobia” by sociologists George Yancey and David A. Williamson.

And what does that hatred sound like? Gallagher quoted some of those interviewed by Yancey and Williamson:

‘I want them all to die in a fire,’ said one man with a doctorate. ‘I would be in favor of establishing a state for them … If not then sterilize them so they can’t breed more,’ said a middle-aged man with a master’s degree. ‘The only good Christian is a dead Christian,’ said another under-45-year-old man with a doctorate. ‘I abhor them, and I wish we could do away with them,’ said a middle-aged woman with a master’s degree. ‘A tortuous death would be too good for them,’ said a college-educated man between the ages of 36 and 45. ‘They should be eradicated without hesitation or remorse,’ said an elderly woman with a master’s degree.”

To ask again: Is it any surprise that the violent words of these radical leftists have turned to violent deeds? These sentiments are chilling and disturbing, and they are indicators of what we can expect in the days ahead, with Christian conservatives being the ultimate target.

Remember also that the strategy for years has been one of silencing—not just refuting—the opposition. That’s why I’ve stated for more than a decade that those who came out of the closet wanted to put us in the closet. And that’s why, after critics initially mocked me for saying that, they eventually changed their tune. For some time now they’ve been saying, “Bigots like you belong in the closet!”

A few years ago during a TV interview, I mentioned the comment of a Christian attorney who said, “Mike, it goes one step farther. Those who were once put in jail for their actions will want to put us in jail.”

The reaction to that comment was almost hysterical on some left-wing websites: “You’re totally crazy man! No ones to put you in jail.”

Then, when Kim Davis was jailed for refusing to comply with a judge’s order, she was likened to ISIS and her prison sentence was hailed as just. So it looks like some people do want us jailed after all.

I’m aware that some of the anger towards the right has been stirred up by the rhetoric of folks like Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannapolouis. And I fully understand how divisive a candidate and president Donald Trump has been, further stirring the pot.

But does that explain why campuses have banned conservative journalist Ben Shapiro from speaking? Or why students engaged in violent protests against conservative intellectuals like Heather Mac Donald and Charles Murray? Or why, in 2011, the University of Central Florida only allowed me to debate a local professor on same-sex marriage if we paid for four armed policemen to be present?

Today’s growing violence comes as no surprise, which means that:.1. We should expose its ugly roots. 2. We should expose its bankrupt ideology. 3. We should call out those who want to silence and intimidate the opposition, challenging them instead to open debate and dialogue. 4. We should determine not to reply in kind.

Violence doesn’t stop violence, it escalates violence. And while there’s a place for self-defense, there’s no place for the rising tide of radical leftist violence. Let’s confront it before it gets worse.